——做专业的科技财经媒体！
苹果与欧盟围绕税务问题长达10年的法律大战画上句号，苹果必须补缴高达130亿欧元（约合1020亿元人民币）的欠税。
撰文：李星
苹果与欧盟围绕税务问题长达10年的法律大战画上句号，苹果必须补缴高达130亿欧元（约合1020亿元人民币）的欠税。这也意味着最新裁决或将进一步推动欧盟对各国给予大公司特殊优惠的打击。
Apple has been in a war with the EU for 10 years, losing 102 billion, the next Google!
Apple's 10-year legal battle with the European Union over tax issues has come to an end, and Apple must pay up to 13 billion euros (about 102 billion yuan) in back taxes. It also means that the latest ruling could further boost the EU's crackdown on the special preferences given to large companies by various countries.
On September 10, local time, the Supreme Court of the European Union ruled that the United States giant Apple lost the Ireland tax case, and Apple must pay up to 13 billion euros (about 102 billion yuan) in tax arrears. and overturned the previous decision of the lower ordinary court because the judge wrongly believed that the regulator of the European Commission had made a mistake in the assessment. The Court of Justice of the European Union is divided into three parts, namely the (EU) General Court, the Specialized Tribunals, and the European Court of Justice (Supreme Court).
The Luxembourg-based Supreme Court of the European Union said in a statement on the same day: "The court has made a final judgment on this matter and confirmed the European Commission's 2016 decision: Ireland has provided illegal aid to Apple and Ireland needs to withdraw it." The court stressed that its ruling was "final judgment on the matter." This means that Apple cannot appeal again.
This is Apple's second big defeat in the EU market this year, and in March this year, the EU imposed an antitrust fine of 1.8 billion euros (about 14.2 billion yuan) on Apple for abusing its dominant position in the music streaming app distribution market.
Ireland is home to Apple's headquarters in the European Union. Ten years ago, the European Commission launched an investigation into Apple's tax payments in Ireland. In 2016, the European Commission ordered the Ireland government to recover up to 13 billion euros in tax arrears from Apple, citing "illegal" tax incentives from Ireland over the past 20 years. According to the European Union, Ireland artificially reduced Apple's tax burden to 0.005% in 2014 through two tax incentives.
In 2019, Apple and the Ireland government appealed to the European Commission. Apple has said that the record EU tax order defies reality and common sense; Ireland has long used low tax rates to attract big tech companies to set up headquarters in the country. In 2020, the European Union's General Court sided with Apple and reversed the European Commission's 2016 decision, saying the EU had failed to prove that the Ireland government had granted Apple illegal tax incentives.
However, Europe's anti-competition authorities have not given up on pursuing Apple, and in May 2023, the EU competition regulator appealed to the EU's highest court, requesting to overturn the EU General Court's ruling.
Among them, EU antitrust commissioner Margaret · Vestageg promoted Apple's tax case as a key case to crack down on transactions between multinational companies and EU countries, and this campaign against "aggressive tax planning" aims to investigate how countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg offer preferential tax treatment to attract European headquarters of multinational companies.
Vestager said that in the EU market, ensuring that all companies, regardless of size, pay their fair share of taxes remains a top priority for the agency.
The EU Competition Regulator is the European Union's body responsible for overseeing and enforcing antitrust laws, with the aim of maintaining the fairness and efficiency of market competition. By investigating and punishing violations of competition laws, it ensures that companies do not eliminate or restrict competition through unfair means, thereby protecting consumer interests and promoting economic development. EU competition regulators play an important role in dealing with tax issues for multinational corporations, reviewing mergers and acquisitions, and combating illicit subsidies.
Ireland has long been known as a safe haven because of its extremely low corporate tax rate, full range of corporate incentives, and special purpose vehicles that help multinational companies reduce their debt amounts. Previously, United States politicians had long accused Ireland of being a tax haven, an allegation that eventually led the European Commission to launch an investigation into Apple's tax situation in Ireland.
After the final judgment in the Apple tax case, the Ireland government later said in a statement that the issues involved in the Apple tax case were a thing of the past, and that they insisted that they treated all companies and taxpayers fairly and did not give Apple special tax benefits. "Ireland's position has always been that Ireland will not provide tax benefits to any company or taxpayer."
In response to the European Supreme Court's ruling, Apple spokesman Julian · Troisdorf said on Tuesday that "this case has never been a question of how much we pay, but rather a question of which government we have to pay taxes to." We pay all taxes due no matter where we operate, and there is never a special agreement. The European Commission tried to change the rules retroactively and ignore the fact that international tax law requires that our income has been taxed in the United States. ”
EU competition legislation mainly includes four parts: Antitrust, Merger Control, State Aid, and Public Undertakings and Services. The legal system of EU competition legislation is mainly based on Articles 101 to 109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The treaty is directly applicable to all EU member states.
In addition to Apple, Alphabet (GOOG.US) owned Google also lost a lawsuit seven years ago in which the European Union's antitrust regulator imposed a fine of 2.42 billion euros (about 2.7 billion US dollars, 19 billion yuan), which is one of the three major huge fines the company has been imposed for various anti-competitive behaviors.
In 2017, the European Commission fined Google for using its comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European competitors. The judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union noted that EU law does not sanction the existence of a dominant position, but rather its abuse.
In addition to the 2.42 billion euro fine, Google is facing an anti-monopoly ruling in the EU not only Google Shopping, the EU competition regulator also pointed out that it will file 4.125 billion euros (about 32.4 billion yuan) against Google's parent company Alphabet for illegal abuse of the Andriod mobile operating system and Adsense advertising businessand a fine of 1.49 billion euros (about 11.7 billion yuan). This also means that Google's three antitrust cases in the EU have been fined a total of more than 8 billion euros (about 62.8 billion yuan).
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